Clair Obscur Expedition 33 is a video game that is something of a phenomenon at the moment not the least of which because it was developed by a small studio and is being sold for a reasonable $49.99. A number of sites are declaring it a shoo-in for Game of the Year (GOTY).
I just finished the game after 60 hours. Honestly, near the end I just wanted to get it over with to see how the story ended. I see no reason to play it again. I find this lack of replay value a definite negative. Hell, I even played Avowed three times and that took a lot of endurance.
It has a number of very good things about it. The music is haunting, the graphics are surreal, the story is clever and the voice acting is top notch but it's not a good game. The game play is repetitive and downright boring after a while. The boss battles are too long for a game that crashes with some frequency. I find the real time dodge and parry approach a problem. This is supposed to be a turn based game but the deeper you get into it the more your party's survival depends upon your reflexes and remembering what sequence of attacks your current enemy uses. The bottom line is that It's basically a story interrupted by combat. If you win the combat the story continues. If you lose the combat, you go back, get stronger and try again. You then rinse and repeat until you win the combat and the story can continue.
I think it's better than a lot of the stuff that has been published recently and I would certainly recommend it to people who like story based games. But GOTY? Perhaps, because the competition is pretty lackluster at the moment.
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